wideford’s TMA Blog

SUNNYBRAE ROAD August 14th 2004

Posting out of sequence because it's a quickie,tsk,tsk.
Starting on the road that runs between Hatstown Brae and the old Finstown Road. On a whim, and because I hadn't gone that way in a long time,instead of continuing around the bend to the left carried straight on to the track going over the hill then kept hanging right. In this area there are (at least) several blocky standing stones. As usual I dismiss their antiquity as I see them as merely more bulky versions of the concrete pillars also used as gateposts, made monumental with standing stone material. Even I have to draw the line somewhere you see !
I was sure there was a place where I had continued across the fields directly to the old Finstown Road but somehow missed it. Instead I terminated at a place called Blackhill. Where the field starts here is a weel made drystane wall with barbwire fence. And to its left I had been led to a flatface-aligned stone pair HY42341130. More usually these are on a hillside rather than atop it, but you could consider this a lower slope of Wideford Hill. As is often the case one of the stones is squarer and the other more pointy, and one has an obvious stone setting - perhaps all of these start with one original stone which is then tranmogrified into being part of a gateway later ? Seen from the road below the drystane wall runs across the horizon, except thet from here the top bit of Wideford Hill presents the appearance of a long mound above it.
Comong towards the old Finstown Road there is a wide farmtrack on the right that disappears towards Wideford Hill. When I eventually walked it (there are gates to go over) I found that it led to the flattened spot on the hill where now you wend your way down to the cairn. Walking along it you can't help but feel that this was a processional way. There is folklore about lassies collecting the dew from Wideford first thing one day a year and one day a year the Wideford Hill Run takes place, though this is up the very steep road that passes through the farm up to the wartime installations. Hmmm...